6/13/2011

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here. Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

I had heard bits and pieces of this all day, but it wasn’t until talking to the in laws that I heard enough to be interested:

A 51-year-old Mclean woman was “involuntarily committed” after she allegedly made a bomb threat aboard a Red Line train Monday morning, panicking fellow riders and causing train delays, according to officials.

The bomb scare took place at 7:45 a.m. when an eight-car train bound for Twinbrook was leaving the station, according to Metro Transit Deputy Police Chief Ron Pavlik.

The woman, whose name was being withheld, dropped to her knees and said, “You killed my family. Now I’m going to kill you all,” Pavlik said

There was ultimately apparently no real bomb. And that is all and well and good, but they bury the lede. In the twenty-third paragraph:

[Robin] Ratcliff* said she did not see the woman who made the alleged threat, but heard other passengers running into the first car where Ratcliff was, saying the woman said “Praise Allah. I’m going to kill the world,” before throwing a backpack onto the train and exiting.

But hey, we have committed her, so she is just a nut, move-along-now,-nothing-to-see-here. You know, I would feel much safer if they just acknowledged the problem.

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here. Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

Update: A number of twitterers who were there agree that the judge has expressed an intention of releasing a ruling within 24 hours.

Yes, that hearing is today. Walker has not, to my knowledge, been called to that hearing, but he will be there for another hearing on his use of video from the trial (in violation of his own order).

The disgusting thing in reading this is that virtually none of the people opposing this motion deal with the issue honestly, pretending that this is simply based on the judge’s orientation. The motion is crystal clear that it is concerned that the judge has an interest in marrying, and is therefore possibly literally deciding on his own rights.

By issuing a statewide injunction applying to all gay couples, that meant that if the ruling was upheld, and the stay is lifted, Judge Walker could go to a justice of the peace, and request that this person marry him to his long-term same-sex partner. And if that JP refused, the Judge could then go back to the federal court and move that the Justice of the Peace be held in contempt of his own order. Indeed, if he was not retired, according to the Anti-Proposition 8 forces, he could sit in judgment in the contempt proceedings.

And really this search should turn up many, many articles on the subject of this recusal.

The question I have is this. After months of media malpractice on the subject, how shocked will Proposition 8 opponents be if the decision is overturned?

We’ll just have to wait and see. By reports it might be going on as I write this.

Update: “Mitch” makes a fair point in the comments. The only thing reasonably certain to occur today is that the judge will hear the case. Whether or not he will rule in the matter today is anyone’s guess. I have seen judges rule on the spot, but its far from guaranteed. So the headline has been appropriately changed.

After police visited the home of an underage girl who corresponded with Weiner on Friday, I asked my wife to hand me the front page of the L.A. Times on Saturday (the free edition from our hotel). What was featured? Sarah Palin’s emails, of course, silly!

By the time they get done swarming these, she will be the most vetted candidate on earth. And what’s the worst they’ve found? This touching email about Trig, written in the voice of “Trig’s creator, your heavenly father”:

To the Sisters, Brother, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Friends of Trig Paxson Van Palin (or whatever you end up naming him!):

I am blessing you with this surprise baby because I only want the best for you. I’ve heard your prayers that this baby will be happy and healthy, and I’ve answered them because Ionly want the best for you!

. . .

Trig will be his dad‘s little buddy and he’ll wear Carhartts while he learns to tinker in the garage. He’ll love to be read to, he’ll want to play goalie, and he‘ll steal his mom’s heart just like Track, Bristol, Willow and Piper did. And Trig will be the cuddly, innocent, mischievous, dependent little brother that his siblings have been waiting for in fact Trig will – in some diagnostic ways – always be a mischievous, dependent little brother, because I created him a bit different than a lot of babies born into this world today.

Every child is created special, with awesome purpose and amazing potential. Children are the most precious and promising ingredient in this mixed up world you live in down there on earth. Trig is no different, except he has one extra chromosome. Doctors call it “Down’s Syndrome”, and Downs kids have challenges, but can bring you much delight and more love than you can ever imagine! Just wait and see, let me prove this, because I only want the best for you!

Some of the rest of the world may not want him, but take comfort in that because the world will not compete for him. Take care of him and he will always be yours!

Trig‘s mom and dad don’t want people to focus on the baby’s extra chromosome. They’re human, so they haven’t known how to explain this to people who are so caring and are interested in this new little Alaskan. Sarah and Todd want people to share in the joy of this gift I’m giving to the Palin family, and the greater Alaska family. Many people won’t understand… and I understand that. Some will think Trig should not be allowed to be born because they fear a Downs child won’t be considered “perfect” in your world. (But tell me, what do you earthlings consider “perfect” or even “normal” anyway? Have you peeked down any grocery store isle, or school hallway, or into your office lunchroom lately? Or considered the odd celebrities you celebrate as “perfect” on t.v.? Have you noticed I make `em all shapes and sizes? Believe me ,, there is no “perfect”!)

Much more at the link. I haven’t checked Andrew Sullivan for his reaction, but I suspect it is along the lines of: “Sarah Palin Thinks She’s God!!!!1!!l

Meanwhile, from the “how can I not post something that will generate this many comments?” category we have John Ziegler:

While I like “Sarah Palin 2.0” just fine politically, it was a creation of necessity and it was designed for survival and not to beat Obama. It baffles me how relatively few Republican voters seem to understand that beating Obama with any conservative is the ONLY thing that matters and that quite literally, through no real fault of her own, there are almost no conservatives not currently in prison who have LESS of a chance of beating Obama than Sarah Palin currently does. Worst of all, her just getting in the race greatly reduces the chances of an electable conservative, like Tim Pawlenty, getting enough traction to win the nomination.

It is well to remember, however, that the Zigmeister is personally on the outs with Palin:

My relationship with Sarah hit another pothole early in 2010 when I advised her via e-mail that herupcoming speech to the Tea Party Convention in Nashville was creating controversy because the event was both expensive and for profit.

She forwarded my message to her team, apparently forgetting to delete my address, with the comment, “If I have to suffer thru Ziegler’s e-mails, we ALL have to suffer thru.” Wow, that was a punch in the gut. Less than four minutes later, a panicked follow-up pinged into my Blackberry’s inbox: “John—pls [sic] know that was a joke! . . . you’re (sic) advice is very good, we have announced I will not be financially gaining from the speech, we need to get that word out there.” In other words, she’d acted on the message, but also made sure to take a pot shot at the messenger of bad news…

“Reply all” will haunt email users for all time. As a misdirected message, though, this is a slightly less embarrassing example than Weiner’s tweeting his junk to the world. Maybe Ziegler’s example will end up on the front page of the L.A. Times.

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here. Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

Big Government alleges that Weiner’s staff are going to be taken into new offices starting this week—starting allegedly today. Go to Big Government, read all of it—it’s only a couple paragraphs anyway.

It raises the question, however, whether this is just compassion for people who they think is about to lose their jobs? Or is this part of a campaign to force Weiner out? After all, if he loses his staff he won’t be able to get very much done. It sounds almost like the sort of thing an unscrupulous landlord might do if they want to force a tenant out–being late to repair the A/C, to give an example. And it is always reasonable to suspect that people intend the natural consequences of their actions.

Another tactic that might be used to force him out is to refuse to grant him leave of absence. From as Chad Pergram said in Gretawire:

A leave of absence must be requested on the floor. This is usually a perfunctory, moot exercise, with no one objecting.

But….

It is conceviable that if someone does object…the leave is not granted. And, it’s possible a debate and even a vote could ensue on the merits or demerits of granting leave.

If Weiner asks for leave, it would not surprise me if someone were to object on the floor. Then we’re into uncharted territory.

It is also worth noting that Weiner has never been shy about throwing other Democrats under the bus. Now in my mind that is a virtue—if they have done wrong, he should be saying these kinds of things. But it means practically speaking, he refused to defend some of the same people who are defending him.

And of course a whole new reason to resign emerged yesterday when TMZ released new risqué photos of the Congressman. A first when I heard about it I thought, “what else is new?” After all, I had already seen the unpixilated version of the infamous Opie and Anthony pic (and I have fully recovered from my bought of hysterical blindness, thank you very much). But then I took a look and while they are not x-rated like some other photos, there is an additional wrinkle—they used the Congressional gym as his backdrop. And that might actually offend his fellow Congressmen to a unique degree.

Update: How could I forget this? Remember that Marist poll that said the majority of his constituents said he should stay? Well, there is one problem. His district contains many orthodox jews–the kinds of people who notice that God frowns upon adultery–and they were having a holiday, Shavuot. That is one of the holidays on which sufficiently observant jews do not answer their phone. And while I am citing the American Spectator, it was actually regular commenter Milhouse who tipped me off about that flaw in the poll.

Update:The Village Voice manages to scrape the bottom of the barrel describing my discussion with Gennette Cordova this weekend as follows:

Patterico’s blog wasn’t done chasing down Weiner’s Twitter correspondents, though; special correspondent Aaron Worthing had an online conversation with Gennette Cordova, the previous Person of Interest in this case, who defended herself with aplomb. (Worthing kept up pretty well, even assuming that he used both hands for typing.)

(emphasis added.) This is part of the meme that if you want to keep investigating the Weiner scandal you have to be a perv or something. Since these people do not know us, I can only presume that they are projecting.

And this just after the same author attacked Patrick for his work on Ethel, writing:

Such tireless Weiner teen text sleuths as Patterico were left with tenuous linkages which the police apparently don’t see the same way they did.

Actually, dipshit, Patrick felt that an investigation was warranted so in fact they saw things exactly like he did. And Weiner didn’t spontaneously admit to that contact as your phrasing suggests, but in fact only fessed up because Patrick published his work and the police arrived at the teenager’s home.

“Then again, the use of the word ‘Weiner,’ when Ethel clearly said she loved Rep. Weiner, does not necessarily sound entirely like an accident,” Patterico reported. (“Ethel” is Patterico’s cute nickname for the 17-year-old, building off Tommy Christopher’s aliases for other young Weiner correspondents, “Betty” and “Veronica.”)

“And,” Patterico added, “there is no evidence that she ever told Rep. Weiner it was not a reference to him. And it’s his state of mind that matters, not hers.” Patterico also repeated some sexy lines Weiner used on adult women to prove… we’re not sure what; maybe that Weiner is capable of anything (we mean anything).

See, it is wrong to suggest that if a Congressman now notorious for sexting pretty admirers was privately messaging a pretty admirer who happened to be a teenager, who echoed phrases that Weiner used when wooing at least one online paramour, that he might have been behaving inappropriately with that teenager. But its perfectly okay to speculate that I am behaving inappropriately toward Gennette Cordova because… Well, because I am on the right I guess.

Which makes his whole line about the hate of the right-wing blogosphere more than a little ironic.

Update: There is something else risible about the Village Voice piece. At one point, he denounces right wingers for insinuating that Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, is in fact a lesbian, writing:

Weiner has, in addition to sext partners, a wife, and while prominent Republicans were pretending to feel sorry for her, rightbloggers mainly noticed that she had not denounced her husband, and was therefore fair game.

“Will Weinergate Blow ‘President’ Hillary’s Lesbian ‘Cover?'” asked Uncoverage. If you follow the link, you will need some patience and perhaps a gas mask; it includes, along with the usual salacious rumors, lines like “Huma Abedin’s expensive tastes and lifestyle have been questioned considering her plebeian salary from Hillary,” and ends with “Weinergate may end up being the prelude to President Hillary Clinton,” for some reason.

The Mad Jewess agreed that Abedin must be gay. “This is why Anthony’s pecker was all over the net,” she deduced. “…A straight man can’t get too much love from a Lesbian, now, can he?” Suddenly it all makes sense! If only Mark Sanford had thought to subpoena his wife’s phone records.

So he is denouncing right wingers for imagining that Huma might be a lesbian, a rumor that started (in part) in… the Village Voice. This was also a theory promoted once upon a time by Charles Johnson. And one of the people dispelling this rumor? A certain guest blogger at Hot Air who goes by the nickname Patterico.